Croquet Club

The Swiss Advanced Championship was played on Sunday 16th at the CERN CROQUET CLUB in glorious sunshine. This is an A Class event to determine the Swiss AC Champion; the winner has an automatic place in the following years World Croquet Championships. In 2013 the Worlds will be held in the UK, this year it was held in Australia.

After the preliminary rounds the semis line-up was Dave Underhill v Norman Eatough and Ian Sexton having a bye into the final.

Dave and Norman playing the best of three in the semi-final.  Play started at 9.15am, Ian Sexton got down to the lawns at 11 am, hoping to start watching the second game, but the first game still hadn’t been completed. Dave managed to finally win the first +4. The second game was a slightly quicker affair, Norman taking control from the off and won fairly comfortably +16. We all then adjourned for lunch; Dave didn’t expect to still be down at the lawns and had to pop out to buy something to eat.

The third and decisive game started about 14.00hrs, Dave got off to a very good start and was looking very comfortable. Norman started to claw his way back, making a few hoops at a time, the game became very drawn out, both players with decent opportunities to win, in particular Dave. But Norman was determined to keep fighting, and eventually booking his place in final by winning +2. Play finished at 16.45… 7 ½ hours of play (minus lunch). This length of time is not normal it must have been a combination of the heat and the pressures of the game.

The final was therefore between Ian and Norman. The final was more of an expeditious affair; Ian started off the first game reasonably well. He tried in vain to peel 4-back (about 5 attempts) attempting a triple. In the end having to settle for an attempt at a straight triple which is ven harder than the standard delayed triple. Completed the first two peels, managing to jaws rover for the third peel, but needing a half-jump to complete the peel but failed.  Allowing Norman an easy in, he made a decent break to 4-back. A bit of interaction but Ian finally managed to win the first game +12 (1 ¼ hrs.). The second was a fairly quick game finishing in about 45 minutes. Ian was going for another standard triple but failed only achieving the first peel. Norman had a few chances but couldn’t capitalize. Ian winning the second and final game +26, (2-0), Ian retained the Swiss Advanced Championship trophy.

NB Would like to note the considerable effort made by Norman (octogenarian) after 10 hrs. of play on a very hot day in the sunshine, after beating Dave in the semis, still showed his competitive nature, grit and determination in the final.

by Croquet Club